On the Pando Editions of Calderón's «Autos»1
Edward Meryon Wilson
Emmanuel College Cambridge, England
The publication in 1717 of Don Pedro de Pando y Mier's edition in six quarto volumes of Calderón's autos sacramentales was an important event. Most of the genuine autos were then made available to readers, many of them for the first time. The edition remains an important textual source for the modern editor2. It seems worth while, therefore, to point out that there were in fact two editions of this work issued with the same imprint and the same date. The two sets of title-pages can be distinguished at a glance: one is printed in red and black, the other only in black3. Other differences will appear from the following descriptions4 of the two editions.
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Engraved title: A pedestal supporting a monstrance in front of the apse of a church. On either side of the monstrance a cherub holds a cornucopia. Clusters of fruit on either side of the pedestal. Portrait of Calderón in medallion on base of pedestal. Heads of cherubs above and below the oval frame around the monstrance; sunbeams from the monstrance radiate out to this frame. A scroll above the oval frame contains the words: Panis Vitae et intellectus. Between the monstrance and the capital of the pedestal: Jucundum sit et / Eloquium meum / Ps. 1. 3. Below the portrait: D. PETRUS CALDERON, / de la Barca. / Encomia eius, opera sua / erunt. Below the frame on the left: Bern.us Garzia delin. On the right: G. Valk. sculp. Title-page: [Black frame of ornaments surrounds title page, which is printed in red and black. Black ornamented initial letters] AVTOS / [red capitals] SACRAMENTALES, / [black] ALEGORICOS, / [red] Y HISTORIALES / [black] DEL INSIGNE POETA ESPAÑOL / [red] DON PEDRO CALDERON / DE LA BARCA, / [Black] Cavallero del Orden de Santiago, Capellan de Ho- / nor de ƒu Mageƒtad, y de los Señores Reyes Nue- / vos de la Santa Igleƒia de Toledo. / [red] OBRAS POSTHUMAS, / [black] QVE DEL ARCHIVO DE LA VILLA DE / Madrid ƒaca Originales à luz / [black swash caps.] DON PEDRO DE PANDO Y MIER. / [red] Y LAS DEDICA / [black] A LOS EXCELENTISIMOS SEÑORES / Condes de Lemos, &c./ [red] PARTE PRIMERA. / [black] CON PRIVILEGIO, / [line of black ornaments in 10 divisions] / En [red] MADRID: [black] En la imprenta de [red] MANUEL RUIZ / DE MURGA, [black] à la Calle de la Habada. Año de 1717./ Collation: [Engraved title] + ¶8-¶¶8 + A-Z8 Aa8 Bb4 Cc2 Pagination: [ii + xxxii] 1-163, 174, 165-181, 186-248, 251, 250-371, 371, 373-399 [= xxxiv + 395 pages] Contents of preliminaries: ¶2r-¶5v. A los Excmos. Señores. [Wood-block over the heading. List of Lemos's titles in italics ¶2r and v. Dedicatory letter begins on ¶2v, signed Pedro de Pando y Mier. Wood-block on ¶5v] ¶6r-v. El Rey... «Fecho en Buen-Retiro à veinte y ocho de Agosto de mil setecientos y diez y seis. Yo el Rey. Por mandado del Rey nuestro Señor. Don Lorenço de Vivanco Angulo». ¶7r-v. Censura del Reverendissimo Padre Maestro Pray Juan Luys Buytrago... «Deste Convento de nuestra Señora de la Victoria de Madrid, Agosto dos de mil setecientos y diez y seis». ¶8r.-Licencia del Ordinario... «Madrid à nueve de Octubre, año de mil setecientos y diez y seis. Lic. D. Francisco Joseph de Castillo Alvarañez. Por su mandado. Joseph Fernandez». ¶8v-¶¶1r. Aprobacion del Reverendissimo Padre Maestro Francisco Garcia de Palacios... «En esta Casa del Espiritu Santo de Padres Clerigos Menores, Madrid, y Diziembre 1. de 1716». ¶¶1v-¶¶2v. Aprobacion, que hizo el doctor don Juan Mateo Lozano... quando imprimiò Don Pedro Calderon de la Barca su primer Tomo de Autos. ¶¶3r. Fee de erratas... «Madrid, y Junio treinta de mil setecientos y diez y siete años, Lic. D. Benito del Rio y Cordido. Corrector General por su Magestad». Ibid. Suma de la tassa. «Don Baltasar de San Pedro, Escrivano de Camara de Govierno. Su fecha de treze de Diziembre de mil setecientos y diez y siete». ¶¶3v-¶¶5r. Prologo que don Pedro Calderon hizo quando imprimiò el Primer Tomo de sus Autos. [Wood-block at end] ¶¶5v-¶¶6r. Prologo al lector. [Wood-block at end] ¶¶7r-¶¶8r. Indice general de los autos sacramentales de don Pedro Calderon de la Barca, que se contienen en estos seis Tomos. [List in two columns in italics, sub-headings in Roman capitals. Ornament between columns. Wood-block at end.] ¶¶8v. Tabla de las loas, y autos sacramentales, contenidos en esta Primera Parte. [Wood-block at end.] Copies seen: Bodleian, British Museum, King's College London, Liverpool University5, Gili6, Milburn7, Parker, Wilson. Variations: Differences in pagination:
The figure 143 appears as 14 in the British Museum and in the Bodleian copies. The first line of the text on ¶3r is differently set in the Liverpool copy. Running-headlines:
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Title-page: [Identical with that of (A II) except for: red] PARTE TERCERA./ Collation: p2 + A-Z8 Aa-Dd8 Ee4 (last three pages blank) Pagination: [iv +] 1-96, 79, 98-168, 269, 170-437 [= iv + 437 pages] Contents of preliminaries: as in (A II), with appropriate modifications. Copies seen: Bodleian, British Museum, King's College London, Liverpool University, Parker, Sage. Variations: Running-titles:
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Title-page: [Identical with that of (A II) except for-red] PARTE QUARTA./ Collation: p2 + A-Z8 Aa-Bb8. (Last three pages blank.) Pagination: [iv +] 1-397 [= iv + 397 pages] Contents of preliminaries: As in (A II), with appropriate modifications. Copies seen: Bodleian, British Museum, King's College London, Liverpool University, Parker, Wilson. Variations: Pagination: Page-number 232 is inverted in B. M., Liverpool and Wilson. It is correctly printed in Bodl., K. C. L., and Parker. Page-number 381 appears in all copies examined except Wilson's. Running-headlines:
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Title-Page: [Identical with that of (A II) except for: red] PARTE QVINTA. / Collation: p2 + A-Z8 As-Cc8 Dd4 (Last page blank) Pagination: [iv +] 1-391, 302, 393-422 [= iv + 422 pages] Contents of preliminaries: As in (A II), with appropriate modifications, but see below. Copies seen: Bodleian, British Museum, King's College London, Liverpool University, Gili, Parker, Wilson. Variations: The Fee de erratas on p2r reads: «He visto este Libro intitulado Primera Parte de los Autos... » This reading occurs in B. M., K. C. L., and Liverpool. In the others there is a paste-on cancel with the word «Quinta» over the original «Primera». (Gili, Parker, Wilson, Bodl.) The running-headline on p. 85 reads La Humildad Coroad a de las Plantas. in K. C. L. In the other copies the word Coronada is correctly spelled but type is in the process of slipping. |
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Title-page: [Identical with that on (A I) down to: black] Madrid ƒaca Originales a luz /... [and-red] PARTE SEXTA. Collation: p2 + A-Z8 Aa-Dd8. Q3 missigned R3. Pagination: [iv +] 1-55, 58-91, 62-63, 94-434 [= iv + 432 pages] Colophon: FIN DE LOS SEIS TOMOS DE AVTOS / Sacramentales de Don Pedro Calderon / de la Barca./ Copies seen: Bodleian, British Museum, King's College London, Liverpool University, Parker. Variations: Pagination:
Running-headline:
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Engraved title: Apparently identical with that in (A I). Title-page: [Black frame of ornaments round title page all printed in black.] AVTOS / SACRAMENTALES, / ALEGÓRICOS, / Y HISTORIALES / DEL INSIGNE POETA ESPAñOL / DON PEDRO CALDERON / DE LA BARCA, / Cavallero del Orden de Santiago, Capellan de Ho-/ nor de ƒu Mageƒtad, y de los Señores Reyes Nue- / vos de la Santa Igleƒia / de Toledo. / OBRAS POSTHUMAS, / QVE SACA A LVZ / DON PEDRO DE PANDO Y MIER. / Y LAS DEDICA / A LOS EXCELENTISIMOS SEñORES / Condes de Lemus, &c./ PARTE PRIMERA. / CON PRIVILEGIO, / [Line of ornaments] / En MADRID: En la Imprenta de MANVEL RVIZ / DE MVRGA, à la Calle de la Habada. Año de 1717. Collation: Signatures as in (A I). Pagination: [ii + xxxii] + 1-72, 37, 74-189, 194, 165, 192-395 [= xxxiv + 395 pages]. Contents of preliminaries: As in (A I), but with typographical and orthographical differences. Copies collated: (Brotherton Library), Leeds University, London Library, University Library Cambridge (i), Westfield College London, Gili8 [preliminaries only], Shergold9, Taylor (i)10. Variations: There is a turned letter c on fol. ¶5r in the London Library and Taylor copies (see also under (C I)) in the name «Don Francisco de Castro». This has been set right in Gili. |
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Title-page: [Identical with that of (B I) except for] PARTE SEGVNDA. Collation: Signatures as in (A II). Cc2 mis-signed Cc4 as in (A II), but Y2 correct. Pagination: [iv] + 1-85, 84, 85, 89, 89, 88, 89, 92-228, 226, 230-237,138, 239-415 [= iv + 415 pages]. Contents of preliminaries: as in (A II), but with typographical and orthographical differences. Copies collated: (Brotherton Library), London Library, Shergold, Wilson (i). |
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Title-page: [Identical with that of (B I) except for] PARTE TERCERA. Collation: Signatures as in (A III). Pagination: [iv] + 1-230, 131, 132, 233, 134, 235, 136, 237-275, 176, 277- 379, 382, 381-437 [= iv + 437 pages]. Contents of preliminaries: As in (A III), but with typographical and orthographical differences. Copies collated: (Brotherton Library), Leeds University, London Library, Westfield College London, Milburn, Shergold. |
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Title-page: [Identical with that of (B I) except for] PARTE QVARTA. Collation: Signatures as in (A IV). Pagination: [iv] + 1-191, 198, 193-228\ 429, 230-257, 238, 259-397 [= iv + 397 pages]. Contents of preliminaries: As in (A IV), but with typographical and orthographical differences. Copies collated: (Brotherton Library), Leeds University, London Library, Gili, Milburn, Shergold, Trend, Wilson (i). Variations: Running-headlines:
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Title-page: [Identical with that of (B I) except for] PARTE QVINTA. Collation: Signatures as in (A V). Pagination: [iv] + 1-218, 129, 220-423 [= iv + 423 pages]. Contents of preliminaries: As in (A V), but with typographical and orthographical differences. Copies collated: (Brotherton), British Museum, Leeds University, London Library, Gili, Shergold, Trend, Varey (i), Wilson. Variations: The title-page of Professor Trend's copy has a variant unobserved on the others: PARTE QVINTTA. There is in the same copy another variant running-title: El Sacro Parnaƒo: [colon for full stop] p. 15. |
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Title-page: [Identical with that of (B I) except for] PARTE SEXTA. Collation: Signatures as in (A VI) except that Q3 is correctly signed. Pagination: [iv] + 1-167, 188, 189, 170-198, 299, 200-432 [= iv + 432 pages]. Contents of preliminaries: As in (A VI), but with typographical and orthographical differences. Colophon: FIN DE LOS SEIS TOMOS DE AVTOS / SACRAMENTALES DE DON PEDRO / CALDERON DE LA / BARCA. / [Wood-block] Copies collated: (Brotherton Library), Leeds University, London Library, Gili, Shergold, Trend, Wilson. Variations: Pagination:
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In the Taylor Institution at Oxford there exists a set of the black title-page edition with special features to be described below. It can be easily detected by the wood-block at the head of the first page of the text. In all volumes of the ordinary black title-page edition (B) the block consists of two eagles standing on pedestals with wings outstretched and between them and on either side of them are various ornaments; this block recurs in a masked form in (B II), p. 141, but otherwise it is only to be found on the first page of the six volumes. In all volumes but the first of the ordinary black title-page edition (B) there is at the beginning of the first auto (II, p. 6; III, p. 8; IV, p. 8; V, p. 6; VI, p. 8) another block which shews a monkey riding on a horse behind which stands a man holding a club; this second block may also be found in (B I) p. 94 and in (B II) pp. 78 and 248. These two blocks are not to be found in the variant issue p. 1 or in the appropriate page above the title of the first auto. On the first page of the variant issue is instead an intricate finely-drawn pattern of foliage around a circle in the midst of which are the letters IHS, with a cross standing on the horizontal bar of the H. I shall refer to this as the IHS block.
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No engraved title-page at the beginning of the volume. Title-page and preliminaries as in (B I). Page 1. IHS block. Differences in spelling: AUTO for AVTO... INTITULADO for INTITVLADO... una for vna... unas for vnas, etc. The type of the outer sheet of gathering A (i. e., Al, A2, A7, A8, pp. 1-4, 13-16) has been entirely reset, but the inner sheet (i. e., A3-6, pp. 5-12) appears to be identical with that of the corresponding leaves of the other copies of the ordinary black title-page edition, as is the rest of the book from Blr (p. 17) onwards. |
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Title-page and preliminaries as in (B II). Page 1. IHS block. Differences of spelling: AUTO... INTITULADO... una... unos... una.... The whole of the first gathering (pp. 1-16) has been entirely reset. From p. 17 onwards, the volume is identical with the ordinary edition of (B II). (Cf. blocks on pp. 78, 141, 248.) Irregular pagination in gathering A: 1-2, 18, 4-14, 7-8, 17 [afterwards as in (B II)]. |
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Title-page and preliminaries as in (B IV). Page 1. IHS block. Differences of spelling: AUTO... INTITULADO... QUe for QVe... The whole of the first two gatherings A and B (pp. 1-32) has been entirely reset. From p. 33 (Clr) on, the volume is identical with the ordinary edition (B III). |
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Title-page and preliminaries as in (B IV). Page 1. IHS block. Differences of spelling: AUTO... INTITULADO... QUe for QVe... The whole of the first gathering (pp. 1-16) and the outer sheet of the second (B1, B2, B7, B8, pp. 17-20, 29-32) have been entirely reset, the inner sheet of the second gathering (B3-6, pp. 21-28) is identical with that of (B IV). From p. 33 on, the volume is identical with the ordinary edition of (B IV). |
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Title-page and preliminaries as in (B V). Page 1. IHS block. Differences of spelling: AUTO... INTITULADO... The whole of the first gathering (pp. 1-16) has been entirely reset. From p. 17 on, the volume is identical with the ordinary edition (B V). |
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Title-page and preliminaries as in (B VI). Page 1. IHS block. Differences of spelling: AUTO... INTITULADO... Viejo [sic]... haviendo for aviendo... uno... haviendolo.... The first two gatherings (pp. 1-32) have been entirely reset. From p. 33 on, the volume is identical with the ordinary edition of (B VI). |
Mr. Milburn's copy of (C II), which has a different setting of the title page and preliminaries but is otherwise identical with that described above, is really a further variant issue:
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Title page: [Black frame of ornaments round title page all printed in black. The ornaments differ from those in (A II) and in (B II) above.] AUTOS / SACRAMENTALES, / ALEGORICOS, / Y HISTORIALES / DEL INSIGNE POETA ESPAñOL / DON PEDRO CALDERON / DE LA BARCA, / Cavallero del Orden de Santiago, Capellan de Ho- / nor de ƒu Mageƒtad, y de los Señores Reyes Nue- / vos de la Santa Igleƒia / de Toledo./ OBRAS POSTHUMAS, / QUE SACA A LUZ / DON PEDRO DE PANDO Y MIER. / Y LAS DEDICA / A LOS EXCELENTISIMOS SEñORES / Condes de Lemus, &c./ PARTE SEGUNDA. / CON PRIVILEGIO./ [Line of ornaments] /EN MADRID: En la Imprenta de MANUEL RUIZ / DE MURGA, à la calle de la Habada. Año de 1717./ Preliminaries as in (B II), except that the documents have orthographical and typographical variations and there is no block at the foot of p2v. On p2r the catchword is TA- instead of TABLA. Page 1 etc. as in (C II). |
The story of the
publication of the autos is to be found in documents transcribed by
Pérez Pastor, published in 1905 and 191012.
There is no need to retell the story here, but the statements
contained in Pando's «Prólogo al
lector»13
should also be taken into account. There can be little doubt that
the red and black edition precedes the black. McKerrow said:
«We may as a general rule assume that
the handsomest edition of a book is the
first»
14,
and the title page, paper and quality of printing of (A) are
greatly superior to those of (B) and (C). A more definitive proof
will be given later on; meanwhile we shall not err if we assume
that (A) was the original edition financed by Don Pedro de Pando y
Mier and printed by Manuel Ruiz de Murga in 1717. The different
readings of the title-pages of volumes I and VI as against those of
II to V are certainly curious, but their significance can hardly be
assessed until Pando's text is collated with the existing
manuscripts. We can only note the difference and move on.
Any one who has read the descriptions given above will have noticed that there was a fair amount of correction -at least in page-numbers and running-headlines- that must have occurred during the printing of the six volumes. (The variants between copies are less frequent in (B)). With one exception I have not found any; very great textual variations in different copies of the red and black edition, but the exception does affect the text: that is the cancel leaf in gathering E of the second volume. There are two different versions of this cancel E3 (pp. 69-70), and the original cancellandum has not been detected in any copy of this book, though its readings may possibly be identical with the different readings preserved on leaf E3 in the black edition (B II). Meanwhile we may note that as well as the two different wood-blocks already mentioned, there are other differences in punctuation and reading. It will also be observed that on p. 69 the number of lines of verse in a column has been reduced from 41 to 40 in both versions of the cancel. The variants are not, I think, sufficient in number to enable us to decide on the priority of the two different versions:
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Clearly the editor of Psiquis y Cupido para Toledo will adopt the reading «desea» rather than the other, but it is not easy to decide at which stage this obvious misprint occurred.
The black edition (B) has only the SACA A LVZ reading on every title page. It also prints Calderón's titles in four lines instead of in three, prints the word AVTOS in ordinary capitals instead of in ornamental initial capitals and uses different ornaments in the title-page border. We may also note that its printer sometimes used capital V in places where the red and black edition had capital U and replaced the Ñ in ESPAÑOL and SEÑORES by a small ñ (SEñORES, ESPAñOL). These last two features might seem to imply an earlier date for the black edition, but another explanation is also possible and indeed more probable. If the printer of the black edition was a different man from the one who printed the red and black, he may have used V and ñ because he had not got the other letters -U and Ñ- in stock in that particular type. V for U in titles and even ñ for Ñ continued occasionally in Spanish title-pages a good many years after 171715. So the substitution is compatible with the theory that the printer of the black edition (B) was working later than the date which appeared on the title page. As has already been mentioned, the paper of the black edition is much poorer in quality than that of the red and black. The black edition is a much cheaper-looking piece of work than the red and black.
There can in fact be no doubt that the red and black edition (A) came before the black edition (B). Reference to the different Fees de erratas in the respective volumes of the two editions decides the question. Both editions printed identical lists of errata for each volume, but some of the errata were corrected in the black edition. Here are the results of checking through the twelve volumes.
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The uncorrected errata in (B) include a whole line omitted in Vol. IV, the inclusion of which would have necessitated complete recomposition of the page. The higher proportion of uncorrected errors in Vols. V and VI was perhaps due merely to the laziness of the corrector. We can safely assume that the publication in each volume of (B) of a list of errata some or all of which are corrected in the text proves conclusively that (A), the red and black edition, was the earlier and that (B) was a page-by-page reprint of it. There is no good reason to doubt that, as the red and black title page announced, Manuel Ruiz de Murga was the printer of that edition.
Many of the errata of (A) are silently corrected in (B). Other errata, unnoticed by the Licenciado Benito del Río y Cordido, were occasionally put right, and some more errata are to be found only in (B) -e. g., «disdichado» on I. 159. (B) generally follows the punctuation of (A), but some modifications occur; in these (B) seems about as likely to correct the text as to mislead the reader. I have checked a number of sample pages from various volumes in both editions, and some minor variations occur:
- I. 160. frustrado (A) - fustrado (B)
- V. 110. húmido (A) - humedo (B)
Disregarding the differences in punctuation, I quote two passages in both of which (A) is obviously better than (B):
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These are taken from the Loa to A Dios por razón de estado. The other is from El gran mercado del mundo (IV. 336), where La Malicia addresses the flying appearance of La Fama:
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| La vida es sueño, (ed. Buchanan), I, 127-128. | ||
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This is the reading of (A). (B) incorrectly printed: «AVE, que llena de ganas...». These two examples show that (B) sometimes provides worse readings than (A).
The most significant divergences that I have observed between the editions occur when (B) reproduces the cancel leaves of (A II). As was noted above there are two different cancels of pages 69-70 of the second volume of (A). The printer of (B) does not reprint these pages page for page. Page 68 starts with the same line as that in (A). In both books there are 41 lines to the column on this page and only 40 on the first page of the cancel. In (B II) p. 68, however, the printer has left spaces above the three stage-directions on the second column, so that four more lines have to be transferred to the following pages. (B II) follows the first four readings quoted on p. 327 according to the Gili copy of (A II). In both the (A II) cancels there are in all six lines of verse on p. 70 and a final stage direction:
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This is the reading of Gili. (B II) gives a finish to the auto which is two lines shorter and has a different final stage direction. The most probable explanation is that its printer followed the original cancellandum, of which I have not seen any copies. All copies of (B II) read on p. 70:
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Two lines of the play which may or may not be authentic have disappeared from (B II). The omitted lines do not appear in the edition of Apontes. It looks as though he here followed (B) and not (A).
The changes introduced by the unknown printer of (B) in the text he received from (A) shew some consistency if not complete regularity. The most obvious alterations are to be found in his fondness for beginning nouns with a capital letter and for increasing the number of accents-nearly always grave accents. Ruiz de Murga was sparing in capitals, but the same cannot be said for his follower. Here is a list of those introduced into (B) in one column of one page, selected almost at random (IV. 336a): Pregòn, Admiracion, Lenguas, Plumas, Penacho, Regiones, Baxèl, Golphos, Pajarote, Cera, Cañamo, Tramayo, Trofeo. Elsewhere he sometimes prints certain religious (or monarchical) words entirely in capitals, whereas Ruiz de Murga had usually been content with merely a capital initial; in the Loa to El nuevo palacio del Retiro (II. 386-392) we find: MARIA (2), BUEN-RETIRO (6), SACRAMENTO (2), CONCEPCION, AUTO, NUEVO PALACIO DEL RETIRO, CARLOS, LOA. As for accents they may often be found on infinitives (dàr, buscàr, vèr, sèr...), on certain monosyllables (tì, vòs, fuè, yà, yò, vòz...), on accented last syllables (ceñì, varòn, azùl, cartèl, valòr,...) and on a smaller number of accented penultimates (elèva, marèa, vèo, vèmos, tornèo...).
Other changes in spelling are also found from time to time:
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ze replaces ce- padezer, tranze, dizen, haze, etc.; z replaces ç- corazon, brazo, etc.; ç replaces c- conoçer, dulçe, vençer, Cirçe, etc.; b replaces v- bates, Lascibia, Vibora, lebantada, estaba, etc.; y replaces i- cuydados, symbolos, gyra, etc.; ph replaces f- Golphos, Phantasmas, prophano, Diaphano, etc.; h intruded- sepulchro, Monarcha, Throno, etc. |
Needless to say, these changes are not always made, but they occur with enough frequency for us to be able to reckon them a habit of the printer, who, however, kept slavishly Ruiz de Murga's initial vocalic vs in every sample I have taken from the two editions. On the whole the printing of (B) seems less in line with modern usage than that of (A) in this respect, but I suspect that many of the changes introduced seemed right and proper among educated people in the first half of the eighteenth century.
I have not made any very thorough attempt to discover whether the Apontes edition of 1759 was printed from (A) or from (B). The following two cases, however, indicate that in El nuevo palacio del Retiro (Pando II; Apontes I) and El segundo blasón del Austria (Pando IV; Apontes III), Apontes used (B) for his printer's copy.
The first is a speech spoken by the King; the first column gives the full text of (A), the second the variations in (B), the third those in Apontes.
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It will be seen that Apontes reproduces the exact counterparts of the kind of capital letters used in (B). For the other play I have noted the equivalents of the words in capitals in (B), in (A) and in Apontes:
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These indicate that (B) not (A) was the source of Apontes. We can I think assume that the text of Apontes derives from (A) through (B). The edition of Apontes is likely to be the least reliable of the three.
There are a large number of wood-blocks scattered through both Pando y Mier editions at the end of both loas and autos on those pages in which there is a sufficient gap between the end of the text and the foot of the page. Those in (A) differ from those in (B). With a few exceptions (as in the cancel leaf of vol. II, E3, and at the end of volume IV, gathering Dd) (B) is a page-by-page reprint of (A), so that the blocks usually occur on the same pages in the corresponding volumes. In both, the blocks are ugly and crudely cut; but they are different blocks. Our only chance of identifying the printer of (B) is probably to trace the use of its wood-blocks in other books of the period 1717-1759, the latter year being that of the imprint of the Apontes edition. Unfortunately I have not been able to examine a sufficiently large number of such books to enable me to do this. I have however had better luck with the variant issue (C), as will be shown later in this study.
One of the most curious facts about the two editions (A) and (B) is that in all the good copies of the first volume which I have examined the engraved title appears to be identical. It is printed as a non-conjugate leaf in both volumes17. This fact seems to imply that the printer, whoever he may have been, of (B I) had access to the stock of engravings used by Ruiz de Murga, the printer of (A I). This could most easily have happened if the unknown printer of (B) acquired the copper plate from Ruiz when he went out of business. The date of the red and black edition was 1717 according to the title page, but the Suma de la tassa, printed in the preliminaries of all the volumes, was signed on 13 December of that year. According to the only list of eighteenth-century Madrid printers that I have been able to consult Ruiz de Murga's name ceased to appear on books printed after 171918. It is quite likely that there were unsold copies of (A) still to be disposed of at this date, together with wood-blocks and the copper plate. It seems possible that the printer of (B) (or the man who engaged the printer to print (B)) may have thus acquired the plate and the unsold sheets of (A). We can therefore say that there is some likelihood that the unknown printer of (B) was Ruiz de Murga's successor. The false imprint of the books could then be accounted for as being due to the printer's wish to save himself the trouble of a fresh application for licenses, if (as I think probable) (B) was printed after the expiry of permission to reprint in 1727.
Some confirmation of this theory is provided by the Gili copy of Volume I. This book has the title-page and preliminaries of edition (B) whereas all the text proper is of edition (A). The binding appears to be the original one and has no signs of ever having been tampered with. This is the only copy of a «mixed» edition that I have seen, but of course others may well exist. If so, they might help to confirm the theory. Printer X acquired Ruiz de Murga's unsold sheets, and, as they became exhausted, reprinted the complete text of the six volumes. The alternative theory, that Ruiz de Murga in 1717 had another printer working for him who produced the black edition, seems to me to be less likely. For, if so, the differences in spelling, to which I have already drawn attention, would hardly have been so great. I think, therefore, that (B) was printed after 1727 (for if it had been printed before that date there would have been no reason to falsify the date of the imprint) by the man who succeeded Ruiz de Murga.
These two issues can be taken together because the single copy of (D II) contains also the irregularities of (C II) which differentiate it from (B II). The chief differences in the preliminaries of (D II) and in the early sheets of (C) have already been listed. The suppression of blocks repeated in the later gatherings of (B II) shews that the variant sheets were printed later than the rest of the text. The alphabetical order that I have used corresponds with the order of printing of the different issues and editions. These variant issues seem hard to account for on any other hypothesis than that of an accident (or perhaps a series of accidents) in the printing-house. There can, however, be little doubt that the printer of the variant sheets was not the same as the printer of (B): he used different wood-blocks and preferred a different spelling system. The difference in wood-blocks has already been summarised; a few words must be said about the spelling.
I have unfortunately not been able to pay the same attention to all the volumes of (C) that I have been able to give to (D II). I have however verified the fact that the readings of (D II) occur in (C II). Because of the occurrence of key-words in capitals in the variant sheets of (C) I think that (C) was printed from (B) rather than from (A). On comparing the first gathering of (D II) with that of (B II) I found that in these sixteen pages of text (D II) had no initial vocalic v's at all and not a single cedilla. I counted in these pages of (D II) 53 initial vocalic u's, 23 replacements of ç by z and three replacements of ç by c. There are also 46 instances in which plain c replaces z, and 73 words accented in (B II) have no accent in (D II). In several places the printer of (D II) adds an h to parts of the verb haber which have no initial h in either (A) or (B): haver, haveis, havido, haviendo, havria. Some obvious misprints of (B II) were corrected: Privilegio (for Previlegio - 2b), atravessados (for atrevessados - 6b), rebeldia (for relbeldia -7b), inundando (for innudando - 8b) and estancia (for estaniac - 15a). In one place the correct reading is restored by (D II) in a passage in which there is no obvious misprint in (B II): early in La serpiente de metal (B II) p. 13b, Belfegor explains to Idolatría that the tribe of Judah had greater faith than the other eleven and that Heaven was to reward it by the birth of the Blessed Virgin. (D II) like (A II) reads «premiarla» here; (B II) reads «apremiarla». These (D II) readings all, I think, occur also in (C II).
There is not consistency in the work of this printer, any more than there is in that of (A) or that of (B). There are some initial vocalic v's in the other volumes of (C). But in my brief examination of these variant sheets I observed no cedillas at all. Perhaps by the time this variant issue was set up they were no longer a necessary part of every printer's fount.
The printer of the
variant sheets of (C) and (D II) can be identified, almost with
certainty. The wood-block on p. 1 of all these volumes -the IHS
block- occurs also on p. 1 of Joseph Joachín Benegasí
y Luxán's Poesías lyricas, y jocoserias, printed
«En la Imprenta de Joseph
Gonzalez; vive en la Calle del Arenàl. Año de
M.DCC.XLIII»
19.
González was then the printer of these sheets and of these
sheets only. According to the list of Madrid printers given by
Marcelino Gutiérrez del Caño (p. 84), González
printed from 1729 to 1749. The fact that Benegasí's poems
appeared in 1743 enables us to fix the terminus ad
quem, for the block is certainly in a newer state in
the Pando volumes than it is in the other book. We can thus limit a
little more accurately the probable date of edition (B).
(A) was printed by Manuel Ruiz de Murga in 1717. (B) was probably printed later -after 1727- by an unknown printer who may have been Ruiz's successor. (C) and (D) were almost certainly printed by Joseph González who worked from 1729 to 1749, and who printed a volume by Benegasí in 1743; these two issues of (B) were printed between the years 1729 and 1743. The order then of editions and issues of Calderón's autos which derive from the Pando edition is probably: (A), (B), (C) and (D), Apontes. Clearly the only edition which has any real textual authority is that of Manuel Ruiz de Murga himself, the red and black title-paged edition of 1717, There are obvious risks of avoidable corruption if editors base their texts on the black title-paged edition or on any of its derivatives20.